Sixers training camp storylines: The point guard battle
Assuming the Ben Simmons hold out lingers into training camp and the regular season, Doc Rivers will have a rather significant hole to plug at the point guard position. Some combination of Tyrese Maxey, Seth Curry, and Shake Milton will inevitably be used to fill it, with 18-year-old Jaden Springer likely on the outskirts of the rotation for his rookie campaign.
The general assumption has been that Maxey will assume the mantle of starting point guard, and for good reason. He was one of the few bright spots in Philadelphia’s second-round loss to Atlanta. He won a game for them on the biggest stage at 19 years old. His work ethic has been praised time and time again by the coaching staff, and Maxey’s improvement in just one season was borderline absurd. He went from barely playable to the Sixers’ best reserve in less than a year.
That said, there’s a chance the Sixers opt to replace Simmons with a bigger wing (probably Matisse Thybulle or Furkan Korkmaz), and by extension use Seth Curry as the honorary “point guard” or initiator. Curry isn’t the most dynamic ball-handler, but he can bring the ball up the floor and get plays started for a few months until Simmons is traded.
Shake Milton, however, is the real underdog here. For better or worse, it was Milton who held Rivers’ unwavering confidence all of last season. Even in the playoffs, when he was objectively terrible for long stretches, Milton managed to get fourth quarter minutes in Game 7 with the season on the line. He’s 6-foot-6, which helps Philly keep some size in lieu of Simmons, and has experience starting games. He averaged 13.0 points on 45.0 percent shooting last season. Those are respectable numbers, and there’s no doubt Rivers remembers that 39-point outburst against the Clippers a couple seasons back.